


A Nightmare for a Brother

by koalaboy



Category: The Sandman (Comics)
Genre: Daniel is baby, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 05:23:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20902325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalaboy/pseuds/koalaboy
Summary: Daniel goes wandering in the land of nightmares and makes an unexpected friend.





	A Nightmare for a Brother

The Corinthian walked among the outskirts of the nightmare lands, picking up the occasional lesser nightmare and feasting on it. He would split the carcass between his three mouths, which served no other purpose than it somewhat entertained him. He had long since lost his sunglasses, which made the sudden changes in light that occurred in the more unstable parts of the Dreaming almost painful. He was not afraid. He knew he could survive here. But an urge crept up his spine and forced him to keep moving, never able to stay anywhere for more than what felt like a few days before he had to continue onwards. Towards what, he wasn’t so sure. The Dreamlord, perhaps? Morpheus had locked himself away since his return from the waking world, and banished all nightmares from the heart of the Dreaming. Lucien visited him once and reassured him it was just one of Morpheus’ moods. Typical, he thought, as he shooed away a beast made entirely of tiny human toes, that Morpheus would only think about himself. Now the Corinthian was stuck in a wasteland until his lord got over himself. 

A high-pitched, shrill cry brought him out of his own self-pity.

“What the fuck?” He muttered through one of his mouth-eyes.

It continued its scream until it turned to wailing. It was young, alone, and terrified. Against his better judgement and survival instincts, the Corinthian paced with intent towards the noise. In the Dreaming, weird shit was always less threatening if you confronted it first. That way you could beat it to death before it could hurt you. He picked up a large, blood and black-goop covered stone from the forest-made-of-breathing-trees’ floor. In the middle of a clearing was Daniel. The boy’s clothes were grubby and torn, the Corinthian could smell his sweet, young blood in the air. Small nightmares, more entrails than intelligence, nipped at the boy’s limbs. 

“Fuck off!” He ran to Daniel’s side, kicking one of the nightmares with his boot. It splattered against the side of a tree and was swallowed whole by the bark.

“C’mere, kiddo. You having a nightmare, bud?” He asked as he picked Daniel up and held him on his hip. 

“Mm, scawy…” Daniel sniffled, wiping his red, tear-stained cheeks with his muddy hands and whining.

“Shh-shush, hang on, I’ve got you,” the Corinthian murmured. He stuck his favourite knife into a fallen log as a threat: “don’t you hurt this one”. The tree moaned, but obliged. He sat Daniel atop the log and tore his shirt as a makeshift washcloth for him. Daniel fussed about, fidgeting anxiously and grabbing back up at the Corinthian, wanting to be in his arms.

“Up up! Caw-_wee_!” He demanded, screwing his face up. 

“Alright, alright, Danny. Geez.” He took Daniel back into his arms, who immediately buried his face in his neck.

“No, you— okay,” the Corinthian conceded with a sigh. 

“Caw-wee?” Daniel murmured into the Corinthian’s neck, which muffled his words, “Kiss pease?”

“Huh?”

“Kiss make better,” he said, pointing to the scrape on his knee. 

“Uh, I’ll pass on that one.”

Tears filled Daniel’s eyes again, “But I say pease…”

The Corinthian growled, and then, growing more embarrassed by the second, pressed a tiny kiss to the scrape. Daniel giggled and wrapped his arms around the nightmare’s neck.

“This is just getting fucking weird now,” he said, and began to march his way through the thick forest. He followed Daniel’s scent and heat trails through the dense scrub, trying to find where the boy had entered the Dreaming so he could send him home. 

“You came a long way, kid. I hope you’re not worrying your Mom.” 

“Mommy!” he repeated and then proceeded to put his fist in his mouth to suck on. His eyes studied the Corinthian’s face closely, expression unreadable save for the occasional spit bubble he blew. 

“I know I’m handsome, but there’s no need to stare, Danny,” he chuckled. 

Daniel reached up to poke the teeth that lined where the Corinthian’s eyes should be. 

“W-Whoa,” he stammered, leaning back instinctively.

Daniel whined and squirmed, stretching his little arm and finger as far as he could, “Caw-wee, lemme!”

“You’ve got your own, don’t you?”

Daniel pointed to his mouth where the smallest of teeth were beginning to poke through his gums, “Ah?”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure the tooth fairy lives in this realm somewhere,” he said, “Not as gentle or pretty as people believe.” 

“Toof,” Daniel said, nodding.

The pair came to small tear in the realm, from which bright light pooled into the Dreaming. The Corinthian shaded his eyes from it and reached through to the other side. He gripped something fluffy and Daniel squealed happily.

“Tebby bear!” He cried.

The Corinthian looked at the small brown bear with button eyes and raised his eyebrows at it.

“Ugly thing.”

“Have tebby pease,” Daniel said and the nightmare obliged.

“Well, guess this is goodbye, kiddo. We found your room.”

“Bye?” He began to become distressed, eyes welling with tears, “No bye. No bye.”

“You gotta go home, Danny.”

“_**No bye**_.”

The Corinthian sighed and the tongues of his eyes rolled backwards towards the roofs of his mouths. He grit all of his teeth. “I could get uncreated for this…”

He held Daniel close to his chest and stepped into the waking world. He could feel the gravity acting on his body, and his heart raced within his chest from the transition. The boy yawned in his arms. He put him down into his bed, tucking the blankets around him. He would have said he was cute if he had the capacity to feel such things. 

“There. Happy?” 

Daniel smiled at him, “Nini Caw-wee.”

“Yeah, yeah.” The Corinthian paused, and then, for the first time in his life, uttered the words: “Sweet dreams.”


End file.
